First Impressions: John James Audubon - Hardcover

Kastner, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810919184 ISBN 13: 9780810919181

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 1992

Synopsis

A look at the life and work of the creator of Birds of America traces Audubon's life since his childhood and presents thirty full-color reproductions of his bird paintings.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5 Up-- Two high-quality biographies. The hallmarks of the series, well-spaced text and fine art reproduction, complement the smooth professionalism of the writing. Because Audubon kept diaries and journals of his travels in the American West and his frequent Atlantic crossings to England and France, Kastner has an easier task than Waldron in writing a lively account of his subject's adventurous life. He skillfully blends quotations and authentic commentary into a readable story of the young Frenchman who, obsessed with the world of nature and particularly devoted to observing the beauty of variety of birdlife, spent his life developing a natural talent for nature study into high documentary art. Waldron's task in describing Goya is to capture in 92 pages the intense, individualistic painting of a sometimes mad genius, as well the intrigues of the Spanish royal court and the impact of the revolutionary European political scene on the people of Spain. She succeeds admirably, balancing personal life and political events, handling with sensitivity the artist's periods of depression, his physical suffering, and the dark and tortured vision that produced his etchings of war and his sometimes sad and sardonic portraits. The most famous of his canvases are beautifully reproduced, many in full color, and the biography is a fine introduction to one of the greatest and most interesting painters of Europe. Both of these rigorously researched and admirably executed art history books should be welcomed in most collections. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0810919184
• ISBN 13: 9780810919181
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 92